What are COM and ActiveX Errors in the Registry?

We get a lot of questions about what Registry Reviver scans when you run a scan of your PC with the product and how it classifies when an error is present. Due to these questions we decided to write a series of blog posts that describe all the areas of you computer that Registry Reviver scans and why these areas are important to your computer’s health. These articles will generally be more technical in nature but we encourage you to ask any questions in the comments section if you would like anything explained.

In our first post we will talk about Com and ActiveX errors.

What is Com/ActiveX?

COM (Component Object Model) is Microsoft’s component software architecture developed primarily for Windows. It is the foundation upon which OLE and ActiveX are based, and provides a means to re-use code without requiring re-compilation. In COM, a component is a platform-specific binary file that compliant applications and other components can utilize. Programs incorporating a component’s services never have access to its internal data structure, but instead include pointers to its standardized interface. Thus, it is possible for components to interact with each other regardless of how they work or what language they are written in.

COM+ is an enhanced version of COM that provides better security and improved performance. DCOM (Distributed Component Object Model) is an extension of COM that allows applications and components to communicate with each other over a network.

Registry Reviver scans your Windows Registry for all com/activex references to make sure that their physical path refers to the registry key. If the product finds that this path is defective its reference will be removed from the registry.